Mumbai, 30 April (Hindustan). The Indian rugby men’s team, led by Vikas Khatri, will play against Qatar and Kazakhstan at the Aspire Warmup Track Field, Division 2. The tournament begins today in Doha, Qatar. The three teams will compete in a round-robin format from 30 April to 6 May 2023 to qualify for the Division 2 playoffs later this year.
Indian men’s rugby team head coach Naas Botha said, “We are really looking forward to the tournament in Qatar. We have seen Qatar and Kazakhstan play and they are very well-coached and managed teams and we know that they are extremely It’s going to be tough but it’s a great opportunity for the players of India. We are all looking forward to it and we can’t wait.”
The Indian team qualified for Division 2 of the Asia Rugby Division 3 – South Region tournament in November 2022 held at the Ravindra Sarobar Stadium, Kolkata by defeating Bangladesh and Nepal 82–0 and 86–0 respectively.
Playing in Division 2 gives the Indian team a chance to prove their mettle against some of the best teams in Asia and is an important step in Rugby India’s roadmap. The winners of this championship will have the opportunity to play for promotion to the highly coveted Division 1 and become part of the elite group of rugby teams in Asia.
The Indian team is as follows- Vikas Khatri (Captain), Prince Khatri (Vice-Captain), Harjap Singh, Sanket Santaji Patil, Sridhar Srikanth Nigde, Suraj Prasad, Sukumar Hembrom, Akash Balmiki, Arpan Chhetri, Rajdeep Saha, Dhansekar Karunakar, Neeraj Khatri, Deepak Kumar Punia, Mohit Khatri, Ajay Deswal, Mannu Tanwar, Pradeep Kumar Tanwar, Hitesh Dagar, Shivam Shukla, Prabal Giri, Gaurav Kumar, Surinder Singh, Jitendra Kumar, Suresh Kumar, Devendra Raju Padir, and Bhupinder Singh.
